In 1912 a man named Charles Dawson had claimed to discover skulls in the Piltdown quarry in Sussex, England. The remains, named the Piltdown man, were claimed to have been the “missing link.” He looked to be both human and ape, with the brow of Homo sapiens and a primitive jaw. As time went on and new remains were discovered, Piltdown man did not fit into the human family tree. In 1953, Piltdown man was finally proved to be a fake. Piltdown man had the skull from a medieval human, an Orangutan jaw, an elephant molar, hippopotamus tooth, and a canine tooth. These bones were not only from different species, but they were also treated to look ancient. Since then, other findings of artifacts and remains are given many methods of dating them and checking their authenticity. When anthropologists find ancient artifacts and remains they need to be sure that it is not modern and when remains are brought to them they must make sure that they are not fake.
INTRODUCTION
There are many ways to determine the authenticity of findings. Scientists need to use methods of dating organic material to determine when it lived and if it is authentic. It is important for anthropologists to study when an organism lived to see how they lived at that time. Sometimes people produce objects claimed to be real artifacts from a certain point in time for fame and for money. These fake artifacts produce false information and fool the public to believing these false claims. By using dating techniques, such as carbon dating, x-ray analysis, infrared analysis, and neutron activation, scientists can determine the authenticity of discovered artifacts.
RADIOCARBON DATING
In the 1940s, Willard Libby discovered a way to date organic material called radiocarbon dating....
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...g what elements make up the sample, the origin of the artifact can be determined and if the time period and the origin don’t match where the forged artifact is claimed to be from, then it can be determined that the artifact is a fake.
In conclusion, radiocarbon dating, infrared analysis, X-ray analysis, and neutron activation are all methods of testing artifacts to determine if they are forgeries. Neutron activation and X-ray analysis are the most popular dating technique because they are more precise and they do not harm the tested material. All these techniques used together can provide a date the artifact is from and the elements that make up the artifact. These techniques give a good idea of when it was made and where the artifact is from. If an artifact is forged then the results will not support the forgerers story and the forged artifact will be discovered.
...ts were labelled with the upper case letters which represented the material types and a numeric letter. The artifacts were placed in different boxes. The artifact analysis was then conducted and the characteristics such as tool type and material type of each artifact were recorded on the artifact catalog forms. The material samples of lithic tools, faunal remains, and ceramics remains were compare with existing artifacts to identify their material type. The Vernier scale was used for the measurements of each lithic tools.
On November 24, 1974, an American Anthropologist by the name of Donald Johanson and his research team, made a ground-breaking discovery that caused a mass dispute in human evolution. Dr. Johanson documented in his book, Lucy The Beginning Of Mankind, the discoveries he and his team have come across. Dr. Johanson and his team discovered a skeleton of a hominid, dated between 3.9 to 3 million years old (164). The hominid, which they referred to as Lucy, was discovered while surveying Hadar, in the Dafar region of Ethiopia (164-166). Lucy’s discovery, a 41% complete human ancestor caused a controversial alteration in the human origins. Lucy was the oldest human ancestor. During the following year, Johanson’s team discovered fossilized remains
Lucy was one important artifact studied from the Paleolithic Age. In 1964, she was found in a falling position by Donald Carl Johanson in Ethiopia, Africa. She is a hominid, or an early ancestor of man. Only 40% of her body parts were found, but she gave further evidence that mankind began in Africa. Specialized historians used carbon dating, a technique in which x-rays and CAT scans to measure the amount of carbon in an artifact to find the exact age of the object, to study Lucy and make conclusions about her. They found out
There are many strategies an archaeologist can use in order to determine how old the human was at death. The most common way is by investigating the skeleton and teeth. Archaeologists are able to make inferences about age using the cranial bones. The main
Tool mark analysis- This is where the forensic investigators will photograph or sketch (when the whole area can’t go to the lab) impressions made by tools used in the crime. At the lab, they will compare tools and marked objects to identify specific tools. 3 types of tool mark impressions are: compressions; pressed into soft materials, sliding; tool scrapes across surfaces, and cutting; a combination of both compression and sliding.
Some cases cannot be solved without this evidence. “Physical evidence refers to any item that comes from a nonliving origin, such as fingerprints, tire marks, footprints, fibers, paint, and building materials” (“PE”). There is also another group called biological evidence. Biological evidence branches from a living thing, including bloodstains and DNA. Forensic scientists place their evidence into categories including these. “Forensic science is the use of scientific principles and methods to analyze material connected with a crime” (Funkhouser). When a crime is committed, law enforcement officers tape off the scene as quickly as possible (Funkhouser). They then search the area for evidence (Funkhouser). Forensic scientists rarely actually go to the crime scene (Funkhouser). Once all the evidence is gathered from the site, it is then cautiously transported to the crime lab to be analyzed (Funkhouser). Everything about a crime scene is taken very seriously. It is a very tedious process, which takes patience and
Scientists have been researching for centuries to determine the Earth’s age, many naturalists debate on how old the Earth is yet it still remains a mystery. Geologist have research and analyze many theories but is still unsure, leaving a question of how long has the Earth been around? In 1860, John Phillips a geologist, used the idea of sedimentation to determine how old the Earth is. As rocks deteriorated throughout the years geologists measured the lower lying areas, like valleys, rivers, and oceans to determine the age of the Earth through the thickness of sedimentary deposit. Scientist calculated the forming of each layer and the rate of how quickly the sedimentary would thicken over a period of time, after researching Geologist came to
It illuminates the object with ultraviolet, which makes the object fluoresce out a longer wavelength of light, which can be used in the determining the pigments, and assist in the authentication of the object. Such a technique was used in the analysis of a of painting, ‘Village Scene with Horse and Honn & Company Factory’, that was suspected to be a forgery of the original (Smith et al. n.d). Ultraviolet fluorescence like chemical analysis also can be destructive, as a sample of the object is usually
Radiometric dating is the process of determining the age of a substance based on the ratio of isotopes in a given sample. The number of protons in the nucleus of an atom defines a particular element. However, the number of neutrons in the nucleus can vary, giving rise to different isotopes of the same element. Some of these isotopes are stable, while others are not. These unstable isotopes radioactively decay to more stable, often lighter elements, called daughter atoms, thereby releasing energy in the form of high-energy particles or electromagnetic waves.
Forensics Anthropology is the study that goes beyond the human skeleton. A forensics anthropologist can find out. How a person lived, the food that person ate, and the overall make-up of a human. The use of forensics has grown in recent years, it is used to solve crimes and locate missing persons. Snow, (1982) Forensics anthropology is not a new science. The first case forensics anthropology was used on was the Jezebel case, dating back to the nineteenth century. This case involved a person, who was thrown from a window. Snow, (1982) The remains found in this case were the skull, feet, and the palm of the victim’s hands.
Including biochemistry, mathematics, and engineering. With paleontologist using these techniques, they have been able to much more of the history of life, dating all the way back to when Earth was able to produce life, about 3,800 million years ago. Geochemical signatures from rocks can help discover when life first started on Earth. Carbon isotope ratios can help identify climate changes in the area and major transitions on the planet. Techniques in engineering have helped us estimate how an extinct animal would behave, like how fast was the T-rex or how strong was its
...anges which occurred over a period of time and why these changes occurred but who was responsible for them. Archaeological findings are essential especially when there is a lack of written primary sources. The most common findings in this field include; cave art, pottery, and weaponry used for both hunting and fighting. In later cases of archaeological excavations written evidence was well provided and artifacts recovered at the site were used as an aid in studying a particular culture. Moreover, it is quite obvious that all of the following elements pertaining to archaeology have positively contributed to our further understanding of human culture in previous centuries. Discoveries by archeologists not only give us significant insight into our past but they also give us essential information necessary for a comprehensive understanding of our present and our future.
When a suspect’s weapon is examined in the lab, it will be test fired into a box filled with cotton or a tank of water to provide the examiner with the bullets and cartridges with a known history. Using a microscope, the known cartridges are compared with the ones in question. With some patience, skill, and a little luck, experts can definitively say that a certain firearm and no other fired this bullet, or ejected this cartridge.
There are many techniques used to determine the age of rocks, but I will highlight on two: relative dating and radiometric dating. Each has its own limitations. The first technique is called relative dating. Relative dating is the technique based on the layers in the rock to tell how old the rock is by its geological events. Growing up I used to hike around and find land structures with rock layers. By looking at the different layers and the way they were structured, it was a fun way to guess the age of the rock.
...6 million years ago. Other artefacts such as tools paintings, foot prints and figurines to how they lived. The marking the muscles left helped the scientists work out how they moved and held tools. One of the biggest findings was Lucy a 40% complete skeleton who was discovered in Ethiopia. This helped scientist understand more about the way the early humans walked on two legs. The most complete hominin skeleton ever found was Ardi an Ardipithecus ramidus who was around 4.4 million years old.